On the market: Antique Georgian is home to history and modern amenities

Meg Barone

Published 8:50 am, Friday, June 6, 2014

Photo: Contributed Photo

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The house at 105 Meeting House Lane is on the market for $4,250,000.

The house at 105 Meeting House Lane is on the market for $4,250,000.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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A red brick firebox in a herringbone pattern is a distinctive feature in the living room of the house at 105 Meeting House Lane, which dates to 1750.

A red brick firebox in a herringbone pattern is a distinctive feature in the living room of the house at 105 Meeting House Lane, which dates to 1750.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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Another view of the living room at 105 Meeting House Lane.

Another view of the living room at 105 Meeting House Lane.

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The family room is housed in a separate stone structure attached to the main house by a breezeway.

The family room is housed in a separate stone structure attached to the main house by a breezeway.

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The kitchen at 105 Meeting House Lane has Carrera marble counters and a center island.

The kitchen at 105 Meeting House Lane has Carrera marble counters and a center island.

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The eat-in area of the litchen.

The eat-in area of the litchen.

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The bight blue color scheme in the formal dining room harkens back to 18th-century styles.

The bight blue color scheme in the formal dining room harkens back to 18th-century styles.

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The sitting room in the house at 105 Meeting House Lane.

The sitting room in the house at 105 Meeting House Lane.

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The second-floor office at 105 Meeting House Lane.

The second-floor office at 105 Meeting House Lane.

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The master bedroom is housed in a separate wing of the house.

The master bedroom is housed in a separate wing of the house.

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The marble master bathroom has radiant heat in the floor.

The marble master bathroom has radiant heat in the floor.

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An outdoor fireplace and seating area sit outside the stone wing that houses the family room.

An outdoor fireplace and seating area sit outside the stone wing that houses the family room.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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A renovated antique barn houses eight vehicle bays and an apartment.

A renovated antique barn houses eight vehicle bays and an apartment.

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The in-ground swimming pool at 105 Meeting House Lane.

The in-ground swimming pool at 105 Meeting House Lane.

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On the market: Antique Georgian is home to history and modern amenities

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An arched, covered porch with a decorative transom and built-in benches serves as a portal to the past and the present -- from Talleyrand to Tallman -- and into a dream home at 105 Meeting House Lane in the heart of the Greenfield Hill area.

The updated Antique Georgian house sits on a street lined with pink and white dogwood trees directly across from Timothy Dwight Park and diagonally across from Greenfield Hill Congregational Church, giving its residents a front row seat for the annual Dogwood Festival each spring.

The house is on a level corner lot of 2.49 acres that also encompasses a new in-ground heated saltwater swimming pool and spa, professional landscaping including specimen plantings and manicured shrubbery, and a large renovated antique barn, circa 1900, with an apartment and eight vehicle bays that are ideal for the car collector. The rear bluestone terraced patio has an outdoor fireplace and numerous sitting areas.

A white picket fence lines the front of the acreage on Meeting House Lane and a stone wall borders the portion of the property along Hillside Road. A stone structure, attached to the main house by a breezeway, houses the family room with a floor-to-ceiling fireplace, cathedral ceiling and hand-hewn beams.

Built by Zalmon Bradley in 1750 in the saltbox tradition, the 9,700-square-foot house was transformed in a recent renovation and remodeling project by Paul Tallman Builders and Baker Batchelder Architects to achieve the present Georgian design. During the renovation, the house was raised to build a new foundation and finished lower level. All of the floors, systems, windows, and walls were replaced to bring it up to today's high standards.

The early history of the house includes its ownership by the Baldwin family until 1870 and visits to the house by notable people referred to in an article published in 1929 as "a cluster of geniuses" who were often in Greenfield Hill, among them Timothy Dwight, Joel Barlow and Barlow's brother-in-law Abraham Baldwin, whose brother owned the house.

A native of Guilford, Abraham Baldwin was a founding father and contributing draft writer of the U.S. Constitution. A graduate of Yale University, Baldwin was the founder and first president of the University of Georgia, the first state-chartered public institution of higher education in the country.

The house exterior features white clapboard with a bit of a twist. It gives the appearance of batten board, and it has dark green paneled shutters. The house has a center hall foyer and wide-planked wood floors. The formal living room has a grass wall-covering and a fireplace with a red brick firebox in a herringbone pattern, honed granite surround and wood mantle with flush, fluted columns.

In the formal dining room there is a similar fireplace and the walls are a bright aqua blue, a color that's in vogue today but also harkens back to the 18th century, Rose said. "In colonial times they used bright colors. It was a way of brightening up rooms. People tend to think they were more drab than they were," Rose said.

It would be challenging to catalog all of the many features of this house, room by room. Suffice it to say there is much for the next owners to see and enjoy. Highlights include the large bar room behind the living room with a wet bar, built-in bookshelves and glass shelves for storage of stemware and granite counters; the gourmet Carrera marble kitchen with center island, eat-in area, built-in Miele espresso, cappuccino and coffee maker, and high-end appliances; the mudroom with Travertine floor, laundry closet, coat cubbies, closets and half bath; and a large, temperature-controlled wine cellar with a red brick floor in a basket-weave pattern. There is a full laundry room on the second floor.

The main house features five bedrooms, all en suite, with a separate wing for the master, which has its own fireplace, spacious walk-in closet, dressing room, and radiant heat floors in the marble bath.

The apartment in the barn has a kitchen, bedroom, living room, laundry room and full bath. Above it is a 1,500-square-foot loft with a half bath suitable for entertaining, storage, a home office or art studio.